What’s Next?

The Journey Toward Spiritual Fitness

Life is a journey. We believe that our physical and spiritual dimensions are uniquely intertwined, and each plays a significant role in that journey.

Have you ever considered the connection between the two? Have you ever thought that God might be interested in your health and your physical condition? Perhaps you have never even considered that there is a God who loves you. From the beginning, we want you to know that at the very heart of the Christ follower’s perspective on fitness is that God not only loves you, but you can know Him personally in this journey called life.

1st Step in the Journey

At the core of our physical bodies, God placed our heart. Our heart not only powers us physically, but is considered by some to be the place where our thoughts, will, and emotions reside. We laugh, hurt, and dream – and talk about all of these as emotions of the heart. Just as our heart is at the center of our physical lives, it is (at least metaphorically) also at the center of our spiritual lives.

Each of us has a spirit that longs to be known. This is why meaningful relationships are so fulfilling. It is also why the lack of meaningful relationships can be so painful. The Bible paints a picture of a God who wants to know us personally and who has gone to extraordinary lengths to make it possible for us know Him.

Some have called this the greatest love story ever told. Here’s why…

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A passage in the Bible says: “Greater love has no man than this: that he would lay down his life for his friends.” This is a powerful expression of love that one person could give another, and it’s exactly why so many are deeply moved when they come to the realization that this is just how God demonstrated His love for us.

The Bible reveals a God who loves us so much that He gave his own son, Jesus, to die on the cross, for us. But the whole idea – Jesus dying on the cross “for us” – raises a number of questions…

Why did Jesus have to die?
Why would God allow it?
What does Jesus’ death have to do with our having a relationship with Him?
What does ANY of this have to do with fitness?

Before we can understand the answers to these important questions, we have to understand that despite the fact that God exists – and loves us – there is a profound problem. In fact, the problem is profound enough that it keeps many from experiencing this relationship with God – the very relationship we were created to enjoy.

2nd Step in the Journey

Have you experienced a sense that something is not right with your soul? Maybe you’ve sensed that something is missing, and that somehow there should be more to your life.

In our unique design, God created our souls with a need to be satisfied. At our core, our hearts are hungry to be filled. What is it that we hunger for? Meaningful relationships!

What we seek to satisfy this hunger is vital to our spiritual fitness. The only one who can fill our heart hunger is God Himself. Nothing else can truly satisfy - not other people, places or things of this world. Our hungry hearts can take us on a journey in search of intimacy, and if it’s not filled properly we can feel desperate, broken and disconnected. The reason for this disconnect is what the Bible calls sin, and the consequences of sin – for each of us – are enormous.

3rd Step in the Journey

When we realize that our souls are disconnected from God, we can’t experience God’s love personally. The Bible has many lessons that pose our need for help. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.”

Sin costs! The ultimate cost is death and eternity apart from God.

We were created to have companionship with God on our life’s journey. The Christian message is that God’s companionship meets us in our desperation to fill our hunger with comfort, compassion and love. God meets us where we are and provides a way for us to experience His mercy, abundant life on earth, and everlasting life in Heaven.

4th Step in the Journey

The way that God provided for us to have companionship with Him was through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our connection to God.

An intervention of God’s grace was put into action when Jesus died on the cross. By dying, Jesus took our sin, so that we could live rightly. Scripture says, “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed”

The Journey continues…

At some point in our life’s journey, we learn that we can’t satisfy ourselves. It is at this point in our life that we recognize our genuine need for a relationship with God. We were designed to respond to God’s truth. What truth?

…the truth that Jesus is our only way. In the Bible it reads, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Intentionally choosing to surrender to the fact that Jesus Christ is the only way will allow us to experience God and His goodness.

5th Step in the Journey

Our journey in having companionship with God is complete when we surrender to Christ by His invitation.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20)

How do you accept Jesus?

Through prayer - which is just talking to God.

He knows your heart and is not as concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer.

Lord Jesus, I need you to satisfy all the empty places of my heart. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and accept you as my Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me life that is everlasting. Take control of my life. Make me the person you want me to be.